Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1610
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, July 24, 1881
“The Lord was with Joseph.” Genesis 39:2.
SCRIPTURE frequently sums up a man’s life in a single sentence. Here is the biography of Joseph sketched by Inspiration—“God was with him,” so Stephen testified in his famous speech recorded in Acts 7:9. Here is the life story of Abraham—“Abraham believed God.” Of Moses, we read, “The man Moses was very meek.” Take a New Testament life, such as that of John the Baptist, and you have it in a line—“John did no miracles, but all things that he spoke concerning Jesus were true.” The mere name of John—“that disciple whom Jesus loved”—would serve for an epitaph of him. It pictures both the man and his history. Holy Scripture excels in this kind of full-length miniature paintings! Michelangelo is said to have drawn a portrait with a single stroke of his crayon and so the Spirit of God sketches a man’s life in a single sentence—“The Lord was with Joseph.”
Observe, however, that the portraits of Scripture give us not only the outer, but the inner life of the man. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks upon the heart and so the Scriptural descriptions of men are not of their visible life, alone, but of their spiritual life. Here we have Joseph as God saw him, the real Joseph. Externally it did not always appear that God was with him, for Joseph did not always seem to be a prosperous man. But when you come to look into the inmost soul of this servant of God, you see his true likeness—he lived in communion with the Most High and God blessed him—“The Lord was with Joseph and he was a prosperous man.”
Dear Friends, how would you like to have your inner biography sketched? How would your soul appear, if set out in detail before all the world as to its desires, affections and thoughts? Many lives have looked well on paper, but beneath their surface the biographer never dared to dive, or, perhaps, could not have dived had he been anxious to do so! It is often thought wise, in writing a man’s life, to suppress certain matters. This may be prudent if the design is to guard a reputation, but it is scarcely truthful. The Spirit of God does not suppress the faults, even, of those whom we most admire, but writes them fully, like the Spirit of Truth, as He is. The man who, above others, was “a man after God’s own heart,” was yet, in some points, exceedingly faulty and he committed one foul deed which will remain, through all time, a blemish upon his character.
There was in David so firm and undeviating an attachment to the Lord God and so sincere a desire to do right—and so deep a repentance when he had erred—that the Lord still regarded him as after His own heart although He smote him heavily for his transgressions. David was a truly sincere man in spite of the faults into which he fell and it is the heart of David which is sketched. So here, the Spirit is not looking so much at Joseph as a favorite child, or an Egyptian prime minister, as at the innermost and truest Joseph and, therefore, He thus describes him, “the Lord was with Joseph.” This striking likeness of Joseph strongly reminds us of our Master and Lord, that greater Joseph, who is Lord over all the world for the sake of Israel.
Peter, in his sermon to the household of Cornelius, said of our Lord that He, “went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him.” Exactly what had been said of Joseph! It is wonderful that the same words should describe both Jesus and Joseph, the perfect Savior and the imperfect Patriarch! When you and I are perfected in Divine Grace, we shall wear the image of Christ and that which will describe Christ will also describe us! Those who live with Jesus will be transformed by His fellowship till they become like He. To my mind, it is very beautiful to see the resemblance between the First-Born and the rest of the family; between the great typical Man, the Second Adam and all those men who are quickened into His life and are one with Him.
This having the Lord with us is the inheritance of all the saints, for what is the Apostolic benediction in the Epistles but a desire that the Triune God may be with us? To the Church in Rome, Paul says, “Now the God of peace be with you
all.” To the Church in Corinth, he writes, “The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.” To the Thessalonians, he says, “The Lord be with you all.” Did not our glorious Lord say, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world”? How better could I salute you this morning than in the words of Boaz to the reapers, “The Lord be with you”? What kinder answer could you give me than, “The Lord bless you”?
High up upon the mountains which form the back wall of Mentone I happened, one day, to meet a Quaker in the usual costume. He was a warm-hearted lover of all who love Jesus. He saluted me and we found great unity of spirit. On parting, I said, “Friend, the Lord be with you.” And he answered, “And with your spirit,” adding, “It is the first bit of the liturgy that I have ever used.” Truly, the more often we can use it with our hearts, the better, for none can object to it! Thus do I say to all of you this day, “The Lord be with you!” And I know that you are responding, “And with your spirit.” May you find that your desire is granted, by the Holy Spirit’s being with my spirit that I may speak words which shall refresh your hearts!